1/144 aircraft test the process to the limits. Orders usually consist of dozens of different designs, sometimes in quantity, and with tolerances at the very limit of WSF.

Customers are also used to injection-molded plastic, and cast whitemetal kits that are in competition with them, so quality expectations are high.

Polls appear to show that while the majority of orders have no print problems, a sizeable minority do - about 5%. Shapeways has been magnificent in providing replacements, but with the extra cost in postage, this must be significantly eating into profits.

The picture shows a few of the shapeways models on display at CANCON, the Australian National Games convention. Had I had a shop, I could have done $1000 of business a day. there was intense interest in the few unpainted models I had still in the bags from the factory.

People were especially impressed with the ruggedness of the product - dropping a fragile-looking triplane from tabletop height onto a hard surface, and seeing it bounce rather than break. That's exactly what's needed - especially when whole families play together.

This is an excellent review of a true-world product, its effectiveness, and the impact it has on customers. Thank you for the thoughtful post... it further cements that my next product should include the availability of Shapeways printed models.

You got it. It's called "Wings of Glory:", a re-issue of Nexus Games' "Wings of War" that won potloads of awards.

The game cab be played just with cards, but the models add a lot to the appeal. The range put out by Nexus was limited - and they're now out of production, and won't be back for some time. Meanwhile, Shapeways designers made dozens and dozens and yet more dozens of new aircraft types that nexus never made. It's caused a revival of the game.

In the hands of a talented artist... well, here is the result:

Some go to great lengths to research obscure colour schemes - like the Austrian "sworl" pattern on some machines.

Then try to reproduce them.

Remember, these models are just 5cm long.. less than 2 inches.

However, Shapeways has competition. There are other manufacturers, though their range is very limited indeed. This one is a re-paint of an F-toys model.

You can see that the demand for quality is very high.

But then... we get flaws like this, which require a lot of filling and sanding to smooth.

Or worse, this.in WSF, which is unsalvageable

(Compare with what it should look like)

So please, with these planes
- check they're not "layered" or "knitted" before sending them to the customer, and re-print if they are
- one plane per bag. Not much need for over-packing, just don't scrunch them in against each other.

A lot of these models get sent outside Europe, and the US. So postage is $20 for them. It's a lot cheaper - and gives better customer satisfaction - not to ship defective products then have to send replacements.

Congratulations by the way on working for such a great firm. When the products are good (as they are over 95% of the time), they're great. In the other ~ 1-5%, replacements are sent immediately. This has ensured a lot of repeat custom - but making sure they're right in the first place would increase sales by 50%.

Yes you are right in the modeling scene you would prefer to have a result which doesn't need any post work (sanding).

Have you ever tried the detailed (transparent and FD are currently achieving my best results) .
I know the price doubles then but maybe it's worth thinking about that since sanding in term of costs is to my opinion more expensive.